1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for receiving content via an electronic messaging system. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for downloading content referenced by a pointer in an electronic message.
2. Description of the Background Art
Electronic messages commonly contain pointers or links to other electronic content. For example, an email message that advertises a new product may provide a link to a webpage with additional information about the product. In some conventional systems, a document sent over an electronic messaging system may be downloaded to a user's computer without the user specifically requesting it. In contrast, the user must select a link contained in an email message to trigger the downloading of the webpage to the user's computing device. Thereafter, the downloaded content can be stored in the computing device's local memory cache.
Conventional systems obviously require that a user's computing device be connected to the Internet in order to download linked content. However, users often read electronic messages offline, such as on a plane. Thus, when reading downloaded new messages offline, a user cannot access the content pointed to in the electronic message.
In conventional systems, even if a user is reviewing messages online, the speed at which linked content can be downloaded and displayed is limited by the bandwidth of the connection. For users downloading linked content on low bandwidth connections, such as cellular connections, there can be a considerable delay between when a user discovers and selects a link in an electronic message and when the linked content is available to display. If a user is charged per unit of connection time, these delays waste both time and money.
What is needed is a system and method that provides quick access to linked content in electronic messages for viewing offline or over low bandwidth connections. Further, a system and method are needed that are configurable to respond to the time, bandwidth, and memory constraints that are present in various electronic messaging systems.